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Price is right

Published Friday 26 May 2006 at 15:30

How many of your readers pricked up their ears when they heard of Channel 4’s new reality show The Play’s The Thing? My eye has today fallen on an advert selling tickets for the winning entry. Stalls seats from £5.

Where is the reality in being able to sell stalls tickets for as low a price as that in the West End? I know of no other West End producer who could realistically charge that. Or is the only important reality here that Channel 4 has underwritten the normally exorbitant costs of producing a West End play to make sure that there are at least a few full houses, thereby safeguarding the station from any drubbing the press might mete out should the play have proven unable to compete realistically on a level playing field with other West End ticket prices? Channel 4 has chosen one of the West End’s smallest playhouses (408 seats), so discounting really shouldn’t be necessary. Perhaps they’ll let us know if the play actually makes a profit from the big houses that should be guaranteed with such cheap seats.

In the meantime, I think I’ve had a good idea for a play - TV producers rigging the odds of a reality show in their favour to make sure there’s no chance of them losing face. Too far fetched?

Rupert Sands

Lavender Hill

Battersea

London, SW11

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